Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Movie Review: Forks Over Knifes




(2011)
written and directed by Lee Fulkerson

Is there a dietary solution for heart disease and cancer? Can a vegan diet really keep you from ending up on the operating table?

The film follows the careers of two doctors, Caldwell Esselstyn and T. Colin Campbell, and their findings on diet and its effect on health, specifically heart disease and cancer. The film documents various phases of they studies and the conclusions that they have drawn from them. The diet is essentially a vegan diet sourced from whole foods. It also follows past and current patients (including the films writer/director) and their success with the diet.

So you should go out and get it and follow it right? No. This is a pretty good film. It is uplifting and interesting. But there are some huge problems with the research.

I’m not a doctor but many other doctors out there have pointed out huge flaws in the findings and assertions of Dr. Campbell’s findings. Most agreed that a similar diet that including lean meat and low fat dairy would have had similar results. Most of the problems that are associated with meat come more from the way we process it and less from the meat itself. Also in some cases genetics, unfortunately, play a larger roll than diet. In the end there is a lot to be said about a plant based whole food diet. All of our diets should be centered around plants and we should have almost no processed food. But lean meats, eggs, low-fat dairy, and certainly protein in general are not going to cause us the terrible harm that is stressed in the movie. Keep in mind, the more active you are the more protein you need so don’t restrict your protein intake if you are active.

2.5 out of 5 for a message that is partly right

Trailer below:




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